Our Annual Teachers Conference this year took place on the 8th of June at Charing Cross. It was a truly inspirational day and for those delegates (and Department staff) who have been to many ATCs, it was one that will stick in the memory as one of the biggest and best ever! This year’s theme was “teach one, train one, keep one”, focussing on inspiring the next generation of future GPs and ensuring that being involved in undergraduate education can help to futureproof your practice.
The day was kicked off by Sonia Kumar, celebrating her 5th ATC as our Director, making us think about the challenges of complexity within the specialty of General Practice and explaining how we as a community team are meeting the challenge educationally. As always, her personal story of her father’s navigation of the complex care system illustrated the message of the conference so vividly.
Our keynote speaker, NB Medical’s own Dr Simon Curtis delivered a tour de force in his address to conference. His presentation was wide ranging, emphasising the privileges of being a GP and how we best convey these privileges to our students. His message of learning in together with the student and how much having students as part of the team had changed his practice was particularly compelling. Any keynote that can move so seamlessly between the Clangers and Matisse deserves the 5 star reviews it got in our delegate feedback!
The conference was also treated to some of the inspirational work of our students from all years of the course. Students presented their work in creative ways and demonstrated reflection on their role and their relationships with patients in a multitude of ways. An FCA student wrote an original song and filmed an accompanying music video about his patient’s journey through the year. Our Year 5 ICA students made creative artwork expressing their reflections and their role as patient advocates through the course.
Awards were presented to students and teachers for their outstanding work. Dr Chris Smith and Dr Peter Ryan most deservedly won the lifetime achievement awards.
In all, we had over 100 community teachers at the Annual Teachers Conference. We wish to thank all of our hard working community teachers for giving up their precious time to attend and to making it the highlight of the year for the Undergraduate Teaching Department!
There were opportunities to attend various educational workshops during the day. Below are 2 illustrations of what was on offer:
How do students learn about touch in the clinical setting? Elizabeth Muir, Personal and Professional Development Course Leader
We had delegates from a range of backgrounds including a film-maker, clinical GP teachers, Final year students and an artist. The question ‘why have we not talked about this topic before?’ was asked by us all. We explored our concerns about social restrictions, boundaries, cross-cultural issues, the vulnerability experienced by students when asked to participate in Surface Anatomy sessions and the need for students not to lose their natural ability by having the topic ‘deconstructed’ in a specific teaching session. We considered ‘the politics of the clinic’ (Foucault); how touch in the clinical examination is legitimised and may be ‘real’ or for reassurance but that there are aspects of paternalism. Our hands are our ‘tool’ but how well do we develop the skill of touch? Students also need to be prepared for situations in which touch is inappropriate, whether by them or patients.
We ended with agreement to ‘weave’ the topic into conversations with our students in order to enable them to consider the issues, recognise the need for touch and develop their own ways of touching appropriately.
Do contact if you would like to discuss this topic further.
Elizabeth Muir, Personal and Professional Development Course Leader
e.muir@imperial.ac.uk
ATC: Mindful or Mind full? Workshop: Dr Elinor Gunning, Dr Gail Davies and Dr Mandeep Dhingra
Dr Elinor Gunning, Course Lead for the Year 6 GPSA, Year 2 GP SCA and Module lead for Year 3 SSC ‘The Science of Yoga and Mindfulness’.
Our ‘Mindful or Mind full?’ ATC workshop focused on how mindfulness and the mindful movement of yoga can improve clinician’s clinical practice. We discussed what makes a ‘mindful clinician’ and guided our participants through a series of mindfulness and yoga practices. The session provided a moment of relaxation in a stimulating day, and helped us reflect on the importance of taking a mindful pause for ourselves as well as our patients.
The day was kicked off by Sonia Kumar, celebrating her 5th ATC as our Director, making us think about the challenges of complexity within the specialty of General Practice and explaining how we as a community team are meeting the challenge educationally. As always, her personal story of her father’s navigation of the complex care system illustrated the message of the conference so vividly.
Our keynote speaker, NB Medical’s own Dr Simon Curtis delivered a tour de force in his address to conference. His presentation was wide ranging, emphasising the privileges of being a GP and how we best convey these privileges to our students. His message of learning in together with the student and how much having students as part of the team had changed his practice was particularly compelling. Any keynote that can move so seamlessly between the Clangers and Matisse deserves the 5 star reviews it got in our delegate feedback!
The conference was also treated to some of the inspirational work of our students from all years of the course. Students presented their work in creative ways and demonstrated reflection on their role and their relationships with patients in a multitude of ways. An FCA student wrote an original song and filmed an accompanying music video about his patient’s journey through the year. Our Year 5 ICA students made creative artwork expressing their reflections and their role as patient advocates through the course.
Awards were presented to students and teachers for their outstanding work. Dr Chris Smith and Dr Peter Ryan most deservedly won the lifetime achievement awards.
In all, we had over 100 community teachers at the Annual Teachers Conference. We wish to thank all of our hard working community teachers for giving up their precious time to attend and to making it the highlight of the year for the Undergraduate Teaching Department!
There were opportunities to attend various educational workshops during the day. Below are 2 illustrations of what was on offer:
How do students learn about touch in the clinical setting? Elizabeth Muir, Personal and Professional Development Course Leader
We had delegates from a range of backgrounds including a film-maker, clinical GP teachers, Final year students and an artist. The question ‘why have we not talked about this topic before?’ was asked by us all. We explored our concerns about social restrictions, boundaries, cross-cultural issues, the vulnerability experienced by students when asked to participate in Surface Anatomy sessions and the need for students not to lose their natural ability by having the topic ‘deconstructed’ in a specific teaching session. We considered ‘the politics of the clinic’ (Foucault); how touch in the clinical examination is legitimised and may be ‘real’ or for reassurance but that there are aspects of paternalism. Our hands are our ‘tool’ but how well do we develop the skill of touch? Students also need to be prepared for situations in which touch is inappropriate, whether by them or patients.
We ended with agreement to ‘weave’ the topic into conversations with our students in order to enable them to consider the issues, recognise the need for touch and develop their own ways of touching appropriately.
Do contact if you would like to discuss this topic further.
Elizabeth Muir, Personal and Professional Development Course Leader
e.muir@imperial.ac.uk
ATC: Mindful or Mind full? Workshop: Dr Elinor Gunning, Dr Gail Davies and Dr Mandeep Dhingra
Dr Elinor Gunning, Course Lead for the Year 6 GPSA, Year 2 GP SCA and Module lead for Year 3 SSC ‘The Science of Yoga and Mindfulness’.
Our ‘Mindful or Mind full?’ ATC workshop focused on how mindfulness and the mindful movement of yoga can improve clinician’s clinical practice. We discussed what makes a ‘mindful clinician’ and guided our participants through a series of mindfulness and yoga practices. The session provided a moment of relaxation in a stimulating day, and helped us reflect on the importance of taking a mindful pause for ourselves as well as our patients.
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